“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Le Puy Foot 43, and it is not being withdrawn.
Le Puy Foot 43 have gone to Monaco with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 37 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Le Puy Foot 43 is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Le Puy Foot 43 have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Yann Diebold and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.34, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Words at Le Puy Foot 43 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Moussa Faty is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
In brief
Player ratingsNiko Sigur was on a different afternoon to everybody else
20 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Le Puy Foot 43 lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
0‑3 to Clermont Foot, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Le Puy Foot 43 have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Niko Sigur was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Words at Le Puy Foot 43 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Moussa Faty is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Le Puy Foot 43 can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
In brief
The dugoutAnthony Bermont has become a man the manager trusts
Niko Sigur was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Salim Akkal was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
5 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Stade Briochin were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Le Puy Foot 43 are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
20 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Le Puy Foot 43 lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 48 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Yéli Traoré did not need any: 8.03, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Moussa Faty and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Words at Le Puy Foot 43 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hermann Tebily is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
36 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Le Puy Foot 43 lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 64 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Successful dribbles: 27. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Player ratings13 Sep 2027
Guy Noël Zohouri, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.60
A mark of 7.60 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Le Puy Foot 43 is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Le Puy Foot 43 will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Stade Briochin waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Le Puy Foot 43 is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Deadline passes with 15 signed and 9 gone
That is the business done at Le Puy Foot 43 until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
The deal that would have taken Marvin Adélaïde to US Orleans has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Le Puy Foot 43 with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Rodez AF have kept their man, and Le Puy Foot 43 go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Diego González is living that version at Le Puy Foot 43, and it tends to show in the first month.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hermann Tebily was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
127 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Le Puy Foot 43 lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Le Puy Foot 43 will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Le Puy Foot 43 can pretend not to have heard.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Le Puy Foot 43 have done the hard part with AS Saint-Etienne, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Le Puy Foot 43 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Grenoble Foot 38 have kept their man, and Le Puy Foot 43 go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Add another name to the list: US Orleans have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Marvin Adélaïde. The answer from Le Puy Foot 43 has not changed — yet.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Le Puy Foot 43 have made the call to Angers SCO. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Julien Jacquat
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Le Puy Foot 43 will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The offer from FC Fleury 91 for Yanis Maronne was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Le Puy Foot 43 have done the hard part with Angers SCO, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Le Puy Foot 43 had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at AJ Auxerre, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Le Puy Foot 43 have made the call to Le Havre AC. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Le Puy Foot 43 have done the hard part with AJ Auxerre, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Le Puy Foot 43 offered $600.0K; RC Strasbourg said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Moussa Faty was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hermann Tebily was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Le Puy Foot 43, and it is not being withdrawn.
Yann Diebold and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Words at Le Puy Foot 43 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hermann Tebily is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
A loan enquiry to Stade de Reims: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Le Puy Foot 43 have made the call to RC Strasbourg. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Maël Zogba trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Moussa Faty and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Stade de Reims have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Le Puy Foot 43 have made the call to AJ Auxerre. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
4 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Le Puy Foot 43, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Le Puy Foot 43 can pretend not to have heard.
The offer went to RC Strasbourg this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Le Puy Foot 43 asked and FC Nantes said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Herman Esmel and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
At 25 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 16 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Le Puy Foot 43 have done the hard part with FC Nantes, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Le Puy Foot 43, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hermann Tebily was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. AJ Auxerre have kept their man, and Le Puy Foot 43 go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Le Puy Foot 43 have made the call to FC Nantes. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Le Puy Foot 43, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Le Puy Foot 43 will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Le Puy Foot 43 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Le Puy Foot 43 know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rodez AF this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 May 2027
Words at Rodez AF training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bruny Nsimba is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Mohamed Achi is on it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Rodez AF, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Mehdi Baaloudj has written the date down.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Le Puy Foot 43 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Le Puy Foot 43 will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Le Puy Foot 43, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Le Puy Foot 43. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
12 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Moussa Faty was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Le Puy Foot 43 know it.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Jérôme Garcia after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Le Puy Foot 43 can pretend not to have heard.
Yann Diebold was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Salim Akkal falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑3 defeat, delivered by Jérôme Garcia to a room that had heard them before.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Le Puy Foot 43 pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
Yann Diebold was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Words at Le Puy Foot 43 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hermann Tebily is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Marked 8.16 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
A point taken on 88 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
Successful dribbles: 16. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
It finished 2‑2, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Jérôme Garcia chose the glass-half-full version of 2‑2; the supporters left with the other one.
In brief
Looking aheadLe Puy Foot 43 take on the side everybody is chasing
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Rodez AF can pretend not to have heard.
Quentin Braat was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Words at Rodez AF training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Adama Camara is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Nobody at Rodez AF will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Rodez AF, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Angel Yondjo has written the date down.
“If we are going to be beaten, let it not be because somebody in here could not be bothered.” He stood up and said it in front of everybody, which is a thing a squad remembers about a man for years.
Moussa Faty was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Josselin Gromat will call it something else in private.
It needed Marvin Adélaïde to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against US Concarneau, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Jérôme Garcia after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rodez AF this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Bruny Nsimba falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Something was said to Adama Camara and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Enzo Crombez has his answer from Rodez AF; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Le Puy Foot 43 have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Marked 8.30 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Everybody at Le Puy Foot 43 saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 35 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
Idris Mohamed and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Le Puy Foot 43, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Quentin Braat and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Adama Camara falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 39 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Rodez AF know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
SC Bastia next, and one man in the Rodez AF dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Position 4 on 53 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Rodez AF. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
7 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Le Puy Foot 43 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
At 24 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Level with 90 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Le Puy Foot 43 had all but put away. Paris 13 Atletico will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
6 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Le Puy Foot 43 can tell you which week it ends in.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hermann Tebily was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 20. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
5 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Le Puy Foot 43 can tell you which week it ends in.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Le Puy Foot 43 are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Words at Le Puy Foot 43 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hermann Tebily is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Le Puy Foot 43 pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Rodez AF have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Successful dribbles: 23. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Quentin Braat was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words at Rodez AF training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bruny Nsimba is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The fixture the rest of the division is looking forward to more than either of the sides in it. Both know a win changes the season and a defeat does not end it, which is what makes it hard to play.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Position 3, 38 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Le Puy Foot 43 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Stade de Reims have kept their man, and Le Puy Foot 43 go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
US Orleans left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Jérôme Garcia left the room before anybody could ask which.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Le Puy Foot 43, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Hugo Bellini
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Le Puy Foot 43, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deal with Grenoble Foot 38 is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Moussa Faty and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at Le Puy Foot 43 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hermann Tebily is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Le Puy Foot 43 asked and Montpellier HSC said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Jérôme Garcia after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
37 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Le Puy Foot 43 have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Le Puy Foot 43 asked and RC Strasbourg said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The deal with Stade de Reims is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: RC Strasbourg keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Le Puy Foot 43 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadHermann Tebily falls out with a teammate over standards
Successful dribbles: 27. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Le Puy Foot 43 have done the hard part with Olympique Lyonnais, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Moussa Faty was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Grenoble Foot 38 have kept their man, and Le Puy Foot 43 go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 12 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Le Puy Foot 43 will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Le Puy Foot 43 can pretend not to have heard.
The deal with Clermont Foot is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
At 23 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Le Puy Foot 43 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at Le Puy Foot 43 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hermann Tebily is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Jérôme Garcia chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Maël Zogba trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
33 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Le Puy Foot 43 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Salim Akkal is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Le Puy Foot 43 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There were 87 minutes on the clock and FC Versailles had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Le Puy Foot 43 did not stop to explain themselves.
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Moussa Faty and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
3 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
Marked 8.62 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
The fixture the rest of the division is looking forward to more than either of the sides in it. Both know a win changes the season and a defeat does not end it, which is what makes it hard to play.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hermann Tebily was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Hermann Tebily was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.00. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Moussa Faty is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Jérôme Garcia kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Successful dribbles: 24. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bruny Nsimba was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Wilitty Younoussa is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The captaincy has been taken off Evan's Jean-Lambert. Rodez AF will call it a decision about the team; a dressing room reads it as a verdict on a man.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Jérôme Lefebvre chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Successful dribbles: 28. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Rodez AF have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rodez AF this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Rodez AF training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bruny Nsimba is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Plamedi Nsingi provided it, and the 9.15 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Moussa Faty was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Plamedi Nsingi. 3‑1 against Paris 13 Atletico, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Moussa Faty was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.26. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 3‑1, Jérôme Garcia could afford to be generous.
Moussa Faty and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Le Puy Foot 43 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hermann Tebily is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Plamedi Nsingi signs something — a contract at Le Puy Foot 43 or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Jules Guette has written the date down.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Le Puy Foot 43, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Successful dribbles: 24. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Le Puy Foot 43 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Marvin Adélaïde, and the manager let it.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Jérôme Garcia was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Le Puy Foot 43 dressing room was either.
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Le Puy Foot 43 than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
Quentin Braat was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at Rodez AF training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Farès Ghedjemis is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Jérôme Lefebvre after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Farès Ghedjemis has come out of that comparison in the side, and Rodez AF have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
The captaincy has been taken off Quentin Braat. Rodez AF will call it a decision about the team; a dressing room reads it as a verdict on a man.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Cheick Doumbia's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Moussa Faty was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Le Puy Foot 43 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hermann Tebily is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
16 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Jérôme Garcia on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hermann Tebily was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Something was said to Hermann Tebily and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Le Puy Foot 43. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Rodez AF have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Farès Ghedjemis was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Something was said to Farès Ghedjemis and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Bruno Bazán is 38 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Le Puy Foot 43 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hermann Tebily was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
At 24 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against US Orleans? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Le Puy Foot 43 scored in the 93th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Le Puy Foot 43 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Salim Akkal falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
A 1‑0 win over FC Villefranche, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Jérôme Garcia on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Successful dribbles: 12. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Successful dribbles: 35. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Moussa Faty and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hermann Tebily was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Minute 91, against Quevilly-Rouen, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Le Puy Foot 43 can pretend not to have heard.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Jérôme Garcia was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Le Puy Foot 43 dressing room was either.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Le Puy Foot 43 can pretend not to have heard.
The deal with Olympique Lyonnais is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Moussa Faty was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Moussa Faty and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Salim Akkal falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Le Puy Foot 43 asked and AS Saint-Etienne said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Jérôme Garcia kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Nobody at Le Puy Foot 43 is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Le Puy Foot 43 have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
In brief
Player ratingsOff the bench and decisive: Hermann Tebily
Le Puy Foot 43 had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Olympique Lyonnais, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Moussa Faty was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Le Puy Foot 43 asked and FC Nantes said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Édouard Jean has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Bruno Le Roux has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Emmanuel Leclerc is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Édouard Robin has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Le Puy Foot 43 this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Le Puy Foot 43 training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Salim Akkal is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Le Puy Foot 43 have made the call to Olympique Lyonnais. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.